Monday, July 13, 2009

Cherry Limeade Recipe - and Sliders!

One of the 4th of July meals that I planned and really went over well was Cherry Limeades and Sliders. I was surprised after the fact when I realized that we didn't do any grilled burgers or hot dogs, as is 4th of July custom. But what we did try turned out to be a big hit.

A few days before the holiday I found an issue of Taste of Home's Picnics, Potlucks & Barbecues magazine. Taste of Home never lets me down and I've got several of the recipes marked to try.

And since we absolutely love going to Sonic Happy Hour for half price drinks and getting a large cherry limeade for only a buck, I was thrilled to find a very good recipe for cherry limeades made at home.

Cherry Limeades

adapted from Taste of Home Picnics Potlucks & Barbecues

3/4 cup lime juice

1 cup Splenda

2 liters Sprite

1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice

8 maraschino cherries with stems

8 lime slices

Combine lime juice and Splenda in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, stir Sprite into the lime juice mixture (note: the first time we added the lime mixture to the Sprite and had an impressive volcanic eruption. After we cleaned that up we added the lime mixture to a little Sprite, then added the rest of the Sprite to that.)

For each serving place 1 tablespoon cherry juice into a glass, add crushed ice and about 1 cup of lime juice mixture. Stir, then garnish with a maraschino cherry and lime slice.

Now I have to admit that I didn't even really know what a slider was until fairly recently. I grew up in Oklahoma City and White Castle was nowhere in our state. And, *gasp*, when I grew up we didn't have the internet so there were lots of things we just never heard about.

But after I married Keith and we went to Minnesota on one of our family trips, we stopped in and had sliders to go. (A side note - I just went to ask Keith what city we went to and he couldn't remember. He did say though that the sliders I made were much better. I love that man. )

Anyway, through the wonders of Twitter, which I'll admit I'm rapidly becoming addicted to, I was made aware of an actual recipe for sliders! I was intrigued enough that I printed the recipe and made it a part of our family 4th of July menu. They were good enough that I do plan to make them many times in the future. There's something about a yeast roll, small bit of hamburger, cheese and regulation one pickle that is hard to resist.